Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Self-confidence. Confidence in ourselves. A must for writers, we're told.

But how do we develop self-confidence when writer buddies all around us are getting published, winning awards, popping out manuscripts left and right...and we seem to only be collecting rejection slips? We feel like we're always a day late and a thousand dollars short.

I look at it this way: we can always find something bad about our writing, but there are so many more good things that outweigh them.

And God knows how we write - He put all the ingredients in our kitchens (brains) and is fully aware of what kind of cakes (writing) we'll turn out. He called us to bake our own muffins, not somebody else's.

He knows there's plenty of room out there for yummy cakes, buttery cookies, crusty bread, and delicious pastries of all kinds. Some eaters (readers) may prefer someone else's cinnamon over my nutmeg, but you can bet there are nutmeg-lovers who will be delighted with my unique apple-nutmeg tarts. And no one else has my special recipe!

It's a matter of discipline. We can't allow ourselves to sink into the doldrums over our "inferior" writing, because in effect, we're slapping our Creator in the face for giving us this writing assignment. Let HIM be the judge, not us.